14 

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tthmUpml Institute mi Jtotmca, 



WISCONSIN SOCIETY. 



REPORT OF 



FIRST ANNUAL MEETING 



HELD AT 



MADISON, MAY 2, 1890. 



ADDRESSES BY PROF. JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, LL. D., ON 
"A DAY AT DELPHI," AND BY PROF. CHARLES EDWIN 
BENNETT, ON "THE WORK AND AIMS OF THE 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA." 




MADISON, WIS.: 
STATE JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY, 
Printers and Stereotypers. 
1890. 



grdurological Institute of J\mmnt, 

WISCONSIN SOCIETY. 



REPORT OF 



FIRST ANNUAL MEETING 



HELD AT 



MADISON, MAY 2, 1890. 



ADDRESSES BY PROF. JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, LL. D., ON 
"A DAY AT DELPHI," AND BY PROF. CHARLES EDWIN 
BENNETT, ON "THE WORK AND AIMS OF THE 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA." 




MADISON, WIS.: 
STATE JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY, 
Printers and Stereotypers. 
1890. 




h.5! 




LIBRAE v r> 



i MAY 28 1929 

1 POCUMJ^ t^?^ 5 1 §f 



CONTENTS. 



Institute — } Page. 

Council and Officers 5 

Wisconsin Society — 

Officers . 6 

Members . \ • .• • i < •.. •• *j 

Rules . • 8 

Organization Meeting . . 9 

First Annual Meeting 9 

A Day at Delphi, Address by Dr. Butler .... 10 
The Work and Aims of the Archaeological Insti- 
tute of America, Paper by Professor Bennett . 15 

Business Meeting ... 25 

3 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA. 



COUNCIL, i89o-9i. 

SETH LOW, New York, President 

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, Cambridge, Mass., 
Vice-President. 

MARTIN BRIMMER, Boston. 

FRANCIS PARKMAN, Boston. 

STEPHEN SALISBURY, Worcester, Mass. 

ALLAN MARQUAND, Princeton, N. J. 

A. C. MERRIAM, New York. 

FREDERIC J. DE PEYSTER, New York. 

RUSSELL STURGIS, New York. 

THOMAS D. SEYMOUR, New Haven, Conn. 

DAVID L. BARTLETT, Baltimore. 

ARTHUR L. FROTHINGHAM, Jr., Princeton, N.J. 

WILLIAM PEPPER, Philadelphia. 

LEVI L. BARBOUR, Detroit. 

CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON, Chicago. 

GEORGE A. ARMOUR, Chicago. 

FRANKLIN MacVEAGH, Chicago. 

MARTIN A. RYERSON, Chicago. 

WILLIAM H. METCALF, Milwaukee, Wis. 

Secretary. 

WILLIAM CRANSTON LAWTON, Cambridge, Mass. 

Treasurer. 

PERCIVAL LOWELL, 40 Water Street, Boston. 

5 



WISCONSIN SOCIETY. 



OFFICERS, i89o-9i. 

President. 

JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, Madison. 

Vice-Presidents. 
ALEXANDER KERR, Madison. 
SARAH FAIRCHILD CONOVER, Madison. 
THEODORE LYMAN WRIGHT, Beloit. 
JAMES G. JENKINS, Milwaukee. 

Secretary and Treasurer. 
REUBEN GOLD THWAITES, Madison. 



MEMBERS. 



3ltfe H«ntfor». 

William H. Metcalf .... 212 Juneau Avenue, Milwaukee. 
John L. Mitchell ..... 183 Ninth Street, Milwaukee. 
Augustus Ledyard Smith . . 573 Alton Street, Appleton. 



(1890-91.) 



William H. Beach . . 
Irving M. Bean 
Charles Edwin Bennett 
James Davie Butler . 
Thomas Chrowder Chamberl 
Sarah Fairchild Conover . 
Mrs. Hiram Hayes 
Joseph Hobbins 
James G. Jenkins . 
John Johnston . 
Alexander Kerr 
Benjamin K. Miller 
Benjamin K. Miller, J 
Howard Morris 
Mrs. Wayne Ramsay 
Horace Rublee . 
Breese J. Stevens . 
Reuben Gold Thwaites . 
William Holme Williams 
Frederick C. Winkler. . 
Theodore Lyman Wright 



146 Langdon Street, Madison. 
4 Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee. 
314 Mills Street, Madison. 
115 Langdon Street, Madison. 
772 Langdon Street, Madison. 
424 N. Pinckney Street, Madison. 
Superior. 

306 Wisconsin Avenue, Madison. 
284 Knapp Street, Milwaukee. 
1 1 30 Grand Avenue, Milwaukee. 
140 Langdon Street, Madison. 
559 Marshall Street, Milwaukee. 
559 Marshall Street, Milwaukee. 
195 Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee. 
323 N. Carroll Street, Madison. 
17 Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee. 
401 N. Carroll Street, Madison. 
505 Langdon Street, Madison. 
813 State Street, Madison. 
131 Eleventh Street, Milwaukee. 
718 Church Street, Beloit. 
7 



RULES OF THE WISCONSIN SOCIETY. 



Adopted December 6, 1SS9. 

1 . The Wisconsin Society of the Archaeological Institute of America is organ- 
ized under the Regulations of the Institute adopted October it, 18S4; and is 
intended to include those members of the Institute resident in Wisconsin, and 
such other members as may choose to belong to it. 

2. The officers of the Society shall consist of a President, four Vice-Presi- 
dents, and a Secretary and Treasurer ; which officers shall also, ex officio, con- 
stitute an Executive Committee. These officers shall serve for one year, or 
until the election of their successors. 

3. The entire government of the Society is vested in the Executive Com- 
mittee, which shall be, also, a Committee on Membership, having full power 
to elect new members, and having the function to use diligent effort to extend 
the interest in the work of the Society, and to increase its membership. 

4. The officers shall not have power to incur for the Society any expense not 
covered by its share of the funds of the Institute, or to assess the members 
more than the annual dues of $10. 

5. An annual meeting of the Society shall be held, at such place as is desig- 
nated by the Executive Committee, on the last Saturday in April, for the elec- 
tion of officers and of delegates to the Council of the Institute, and for any 
other business. Special meetings of the Society may be called at any time by 
the President or by any three members of the Executive Committee. The 
quorum of the Society shall be constituted by seven members present. 

6. These rules shall not be changed except at an annual meeting, or at a 
special meeting called by the President or by any three members of the Exec- 
utive Committee, for the purpose of considering such a change; and notice 
of the proposed change shall be" sent to members three weeks before the meet- 
ing. 

8 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA, 

WISCONSIN SOCIETY. 



ORGANIZATION MEETING. 

MEMBERS of the Archaeological Institute of America, 
resident in Wisconsin, met at the State Capitol, in 
Madison, on the 6th day of December, 1889, and organized the 
Wisconsin Society thereof. After adopting a set of rules, the 
following officers were chosen to serve until the first annual 
meeting: 

President — Prof. James D. Butler, LL. D., Madison. 

Vice-Presidents — Prof. Alexander Kerr, Prof. William 
F. Allen and Mrs. Sarah Fairchild Conover, of Madison ; 
and Prof. Theodore Lyman Wright, of Beloit. 

Secretary and Treasurer — Reuben G. Thwaites, Madison. 



FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 

The first annual meeting of the Society — postponed from 
April 26th — was held in Room 27, State Capitol, on the even- 
ing of Friday, May 2d. 

After a few preliminary remarks, President Butler read the 
following address, with the explanation that it was prepared to 
be read April 26th, the regular date of the annual meeting ; but 

9 



IO 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE {WISCONSIN). 



the meeting had been postponed for one week, thus making 
some of his anniversary references out of date, — nevertheless 
he had concluded not to alter his manuscript: 

A DAY AT DELPHI. 

Saturday, April 26, i8go. 
This day brings for me a memorable coincidence. It is the anniversary of 
my visit to Delphi. Twenty -two years ago I was there. 

It is penciled in my Grecian diary for April 26, 186S, that I had betaken 
myself to the Castalian spring and drank of its water before six o'clock in the 
morning. 

There were a good many tiny rills or streamlets percolating among the rocks 
in a cleft between the twofold Cliff of Parnassus. The water fell into a spa- 
cious square basin hewn in the living rock, with seven steps leading down to 
its bottom. The overflow fell into the Pleistus, a brawling brook which, swollen 
before and after from other springs, hurries doAvn a steep ravine, cut by itself, 
into the Corinthian Gulf, a dozen miles away southward. 

The name Castaly, etymologists tell us, is kindred in origin with the words 
chaste and candid, as well as the name Catharine, thus meaning pure and puri- 
fying. It deserves a name analogous to our Eau Claire, or Clearwater, for its 
stream is clear and cold. To what base uses have those pure dews fallen in 
which Apollo bathed his flowing locks, and without a sprinkling of which all 
visitors were profane. The Castalian spring is now the public laver or wash- 
tub for all the vicinage. Early as had been my coming, six laundresses were 
there before me and had begun their work. They were stockingless but not 
without a sort of buskins, as the sharp stones of the region make it a torture to 
go barefoot. 

Above and about the cliff an eagle was soaring. He swooped so low that I 
noted his wings to be white underneath but edged with black. Inaccessible 
shelves on the crags still attract the king of birds, not only as safe nesting- 
places, but as points of prospect for one so sagacious of his quarry from afar. 

My first thought was of a Madison experience. In the summer of 1S61 my 
family for months were the only dwellers on University hill, and I was abroad 
early everj- morning for a plunge into the lake. More than once while swim- 
ming I was startled by an eagle so enormous that I compared him to a sofa, 
rushing over my head and darting toward my clothes as if he would imitate his 
Roman namesake who snatched away the hat of Tarquin. 

I next recalled the myth you find in Strabo — that Jupiter, wishing to ascer- 
tain the center of the earth, let loose two eagles at the same moment from the 
farthest east and the farthest west, and that these birds met at Delphi, which 
was thus proved to be the fittest center of oracular radiation, being the center 
of the earth. 

Two months before, in Jerusalem, I had stood at another center of the earth, 



A DAT AT DELPHI. 



II 



a stone so inscribed in the middlemost point in the Church of the Holy Sepul- 
cher. The proof text for this Jewish center is Psalm LXXIV, 12, "Working 
salvation in the midst of the earth." Operatus est salutem in medio terrce, are 
the words of the Vulgate. Strabo adds that in his time — our first century,— 
while some said Jove's couriers had been crows, an oval mass of striped stone 
with two gold eagles perched upon it commemorated at Delphi the spot where 
the oriental and the occidental messenger met together. The eagles of gold 
are doubtless gone; but the stone, in antiquarian eves more precious than gold 
as the umbilicus mundi, may remain there still intact, and destined to reward 
our American excavations with an Eshcol cluster prophetic of lordly vintages. 
Carrying off the golden birds but caring nothing for the oracular aerolite that 
was believed to have fallen from heaven, spoilers may here have blundered 
like the thief in a royal picture-gallery who stole a jeweled frame but left un- 
touched the canvas of Raphael. This water-worn boulder, which in the fan- 
cies of the prehistoric race seemed the navel of the world, was worshiped 
there, it may be, before man-made images were known, and became the nu- 
cleus of the oracle and all its glories. 

Those glories, if not gone, were at least buried out of my sight, but the Cas- 
talian fount was still flowing. I could not but think how much more sure of 
perpetuity natural monuments are than any works of art. According to Byron's 
line, 

" Age shakes Athene's tower but spares gray Marathon." 

Towers, temples, statues through malice or cupidity are torn down, broken up, 
or at least burned in kilns for lime, but there was no motive to destroy the 
mound of earth. Hence it outlasts all pillars, and stands an everlasting wit- 
ness testifying to latest ages of the earliest great Grecian victory. 

But both the eagle and 'the Castalian well-spring were to me as nothing com- 
pared with the twin Delphic cliffs. The eagles may be exterminated — the 
fountain may cease to leap up in everlasting life; but the rocks are not to be 
removed. Earthquakes have been frequent there, one as lately as 1S70, but 
they only signify the removing of those things that can be shaken — that those 
things that cannot be shaken may remain. 

What Milton terms "the steep of Delphos " rises, perpendicular to the eye, 
behind and each side of the Castalian spring. It is forked some way down from 
the top, but by no means split in twain. One summit, in Dante's view, was 
the haunt of the Muses, the other of Apollo. It is such a rock as Homer calls 
" sun-trodden," as if beyond the tread of any other feet, and " goat-left," as if 
too hard for the most agile acrobats. The only vegetation on its face was here 
and there a yellow-flowered caper bush where some bird had dropped a seed on 
dust the winds had whirled into crevices. These sheer rock-faces were called 
by the ancients Phaedriades, that is, " daughters of brightness." Facing the 
south, they glitter in the sun almost all day. Their limestone is also impreg- 
nated with iron, so that their color is a rich ferruginous red. My pencilings 
compared it to the strange hues I had just come from marveling at in rock- 



12 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE {WISCONSIN). 



girdled Egyptian Thebes. But no rocks in Egypt attain the altitude of the 
Delphic precipice, which is set down in the books as two thousand feet — about 
the height of either Gibraltar or the Corinthian acropolis with the great pyra- 
mid perched on the top of it. I said with Coriolanus : 

*' Now pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock, 
That the precipitation may down stretch 
Beyond the beam of tight." 

But my sight ran upward to the sky-line clear-cut against the blue firma- 
ment. I saw it jagged with sixteen pinnacles which to the eye were full half- 
way to heaven. Dante is described as growing pale through lingering in its 
majestic shadow so long. 

The olive branch as the Greek emblem of peace heightens our regard for 
its mother-tree. Nor is any tree so common ibo it Delphi. Trunks gnarled 
and distorted, and leaves gray as if with old age, appeared to me touched and 
tempered with rejuvenation as I surveyed the groves around me, just then all 
in the fullest fiowerage. 

In my time excursions in Greece were not without perils of robbers. In 
April, 1S70, four tourists were entrapped and through failure of redemption 
were shot at Pikermi, — not half so far from Athens as Delphi, and two years 
after I was there. 

Just before as well as after my journey several other travelers were murdered 
and more held captive lor ransom. Dr. King had therefore procured for us 
an escort of thirteen soldiers. 

With some of these as a guard we had undertaken, the previous afternoon, 
to scale the crags. This of course could only be done by taking them in flank 
and climbing zigzags. Our soldiers, sturdy fellows in a uniform of fez and 
fustineila, — red, white and green, — were lazy and lagging so that some of our 
party left them out of sight. We encountered a good many peasants — most 
of them driving donkeys laden on each side with wood. These muleteers 
stopped some of us by shouting, Klepte! Klefts (Robbers)! Others, however, 
kept on, till a certain lady and I stood on the topmost point. Remembering 
that not long before we had walked about together on the top of the great 
pyramid, we exchanged rather cordial congratulations that we had climbed yet 
another mountain of beatitude. Southward we saw a strip of grain, vines 
and olives ten miles broad; then the Corinthian gulf, and beyond it the Pelo- 
ponnesian heights. Eastward was the acropolis of Corinth, while the wester- 
ing sun glowed with the last intensest gleams, and behind us the snowy sugar- 
loaf of Parnassus rose more than a mile higher. On one ridge, also, a grander 
forest than I saw elsewhere in Hellas reminded me of Gray's initial line: 

" Woods that wave o'er Delphi's steep." 

Here, too, our plunging view of Delphi made manifest its true topography. 
We saw it tucked as it were into a pocket; on the north, rock; east and west, 
mountain spurs, or foot-hills. 



1 DAT AT DELPHI. 



13 



That downward look made me believe the etymologists who say that the 
word Delphi — cognate with adelphos — means a womb, and hence a hollow 
or gorge. Before thinking of this lucubration, however, I had, in my pencil- 
ings by the way, set down Delphi as couched in a sort of " dimple " on the 
face of Parnassus. The Homeric hymn places it beneath a fold of the mount- 
ain robe. 

It was only when the primitive meaning of the word Delphi — the dell as it 
were by way of eminence — had become obsolete — that the Homeric hymn 
was written in which the name was derived from a dolphin — the form in 
which Apollo had appeared to Cretan sailors and obliged them to turn their 
course so as to found his oracle. 

Pytho, another ancient name, and the only one known to Homer — was 
sometimes traced to "putho" 7tv^oo — to become putrid, because the serpent 
which Apollo slew there, saw corruption on that spot. Other linguistic stu- 
dents thought Pytho came from (7tv$sd$ai) futhesthai= to inquire, because 
people resorted thither to inquire of the God. 

We strangers were taken into the monastery of the Virgin — Panagia, or 
the all-holy, as the Greeks call her. The sole monk in charge showed himself 
hospitable so far as to grant us shelter. Blankets and provisions we had 
brought on our pack-horses. The couches there, if there were any, we knew 
would swarm with tax-gatherers, and so burn like the shirt of Nessus. 

Some of the world-famous Pergamean carvings were detected by the Prus- 
sians in walls just like those in these monastic grounds. In the monastic 
court-yard were the torso of a statue, various reliefs, and under foot bits of an- 
tique mosaic. Triglyphs I marked built into the door-posts, and the base of a 
pillar set into the wall beside them. The garden beds, as the slope is steep, 
are laid out on high tei-races. In their supporting walls I counted from seven 
to ten layers often of hewn stone just like those on whose inner faces bas- 
reliefs came to light in the mediaeval walls of Pergamon. 

Passing by fragments of fluted columns and a mutilated sphinx I came where 
a theater had been partially excavated by the French in 1863. Six rows of 
seats cut in the living rock had been laid bare. I sat on one of them and 
thought of Virgil's home of the nymphs vivoque sedilia saxo. 

Among the first things of which I made a note was a hemi-cycle chiseled in 
the native ciff. This structure, whose classical name was exedra, — out-door 
seat, — was a favorite with classical nations. Such a semi-circular sofa was early 
exhumed by the wayside at Pompeii. Another uncovered at Pergamon was 
transported bodily to Berlin. A settee curved like a horse-shoe is the ideal of 
Socratic conversationists — otiose and verbose but never comatose in a Grecian 
atmosphere. 

But the most impressive relic of ancient grandeur was the substructure of 
AdoIIo's temple. The massive platform on which this was erected is deeply 
buried beneath earth and rubbish. Its retaining wall, however, of blocks grace- 
fully curved or scalloped in scrolls — a type of wall-work I have observed no- 
2 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE {WISCONSIN). 



where else — is open to view. This surface, higher than I could reach and a 
hundred or more feet long, is smooth, and covered with deep-cut inscriptions 
still quite legible. On a pillar near by I spelled out and copied one, describing 
a certain privilege which the Delphians by advice of the God had granted to 
the Naxians. 

In my Boeckh's Corpus inscriptionum Graecarum thirty -eight folio pages are 
dedicated to Delphic inscriptions — mostly copied more than a century ago — 
1763 — by Chandler, who had been dispatched to Greece on an epigraphic tour 
by the British Dilettanti Society. But thousands, hid from his eyes, are now 
uncovered. 

Delphi was the religious head-center of the classic world as fully as Rome 
afterwards became the mediaeval focus. For more than a thousand years votive 
offerings flowed into one even as into the other from votaries in myriads, 
whether grateful for favors in the past or craving them in the future. The 
wealth of Croesus, so proverbial everywhere, was mainly proved by his gifts 
to the oracle. Centuries earlier the precious things stored within its -strong 
threshold were described by Homer as equal to all the treasures of Troy when 
at its best. 

Delphi too was the scene of the Pythian games — the foremost rivals of the 
Olympic. Besides, it was the political capital of the Amphyctionic confedera- 
tion. No place has ever been such a threefold culmination of religious, gym- 
nastic and governmental interest, and that too cumulative through half a dozen 
centuries. AH museums in the world attest, at least by casts and other repro- 
ductions, the successes of Schliemann at Troy, of the English at Ephesus, of 
the Prussians at Olympia and Pergamon, of the French at Delos, the oracular 
sister of Delphi, — and wherever else they have been allowed to dig. 

At Pergamon the supreme discovery was the Gigantomachia. But sculpt- 
ures of the self-same conflict are portrayed by Euripides in his Ion, as the 
greatest masterpiece at Delphi. 

But nowhere is digging so sure to exhume richest spoils as in the holy 
ground of Delphi. Superstition there stayed the hand of many a plunderer 
who elsewhere would have felt no scruples. 

Pompeii was whelmed under Vesuvian ashes only to be kept safe till barba- 
rian indignation was overpast. Much of Delphi has also been buried beneath 
mountain-masses toppled down by manifold earthquakes. One of these down- 
falls came upon a myriad of Persians approaching from the east, another cov- 
ered as many Gauls advancing from the west. These catastrophes render the^ 
treasures in the Delphic mine all the more heterogeneous. 

On the whole, there is no danger of overrating the things rich and rare 
which, untouched by the fingers of decay, shall come forth from that cave of 
entombment in a better resurrection. O for an angel to roll away the stone 
from the door of that Delphic sepulcher! 



WORK AND AIMS. 



15 



Upon the conclusion of Dr. Butler's address, Prof. Charles 
Edwin Bennett, of the University of Wisconsin, read the fol- 
lowing paper: 

THE WORK AND AIMS OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTI- 
TUTE OF AMERICA. 

The Archaeological Institute of America, under whose auspices we are 
gathered this evening, was established in 1S79. "It was founded," as stated 
in its Regulations, "for the purpose of promoting and directing archaeological 
investigation and research, — by sending out expeditions for special investiga- 
tion, by aiding the efforts of independent explorers, by publication of reports 
of the results of the expeditions which the Institute may undertake or promote, 
and by any other means which may from time to time appear desirable." The 
leading spirits in the movement were Prof. Charles Eliot Norton and Prof. 
Goodwin of Harvard University, both well known for their eminent services 
in the departments of the fine arts and classical philology. 

Two special fields of work seem to have been in the mind of the founders : 
the one in America, the other in the classic fields of the Old World. 

The opportunities for study and investigation in the American field had long 
been overlooked and allowed to slip away. Four centuries ago, when America 
was discovered, this whole continent presented for study an immense variety 
of political, social and religious institutions in the different civilized and bar- 
barous tribes which then dwelt here. The observer of that day could study in 
actual operation those interesting and instructive institutions which have long 
since passed away, and could note from personal observation facts which to-day 
can be only imperfectly determined from mutilated monuments and untrust- 
worthy traditions, or, as is too often the case, cannot be determined at all. 

Had the followers of Cortez or Pizarro or Ponce de Leon displayed half the 
energy in studying the government, the language, the social and religious cus- 
toms of Mexico and Peru, which they did in searching for gold and the elixir 
of life, they would have added priceless treasures to our knowledge of this 
continent, and have left names to be remembered with more of affection and 
less of pity and detestation than is at present the case. Something was done, 
it is true, by the earliest discoverers, and the good work accomplished by such 
men as Oviedo and Garcilasso de la Vega should not be forgotten; but even 
those more enlightened spirits had as a rule but the feeblest conceptions of 
what was valuable,, and the uncritical character of their observations is often 
rather a source of error to the modern historian than of actual help. 

Yet the last monuments of America's primitive culture have not yet disap- 
peared. Important vestiges of the past are still preserved in many localities. 
Extensive architectural remains are found in Mexico, Peru, Central America 
and Yucatan ; the native languages of many aboriginal tribes are yet living 
tongues; their old religions, mythologies and legends still survive. These and 



j6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE {WISCONSIN). 



similar phenomena invite investigation and furnish fascinating problems for the 
scholar who has leisure to devote to them. 

Most of them, however, are fast disappearing. Even the architectural ruins 
are not proof against the destruction of time. Fifty years ago, when Stephens 
visited Yucatan, he found buildings standing in a superior state of preserva- 
tion which are now a mass of ruins. Charnay returning to the same spot in 
1880, with the Lorillard Expedition, was unable to recognize the scene of his 
exhaustive studies of twenty years before, so great had been the devastation 
during that short period. The luxuriant tropical vegetation, the damp climate, 
and latterly the hand of man, have shown themselves potent enemies of these 
important monuments. Aboriginal languages and native institutions are even 
less permanent. Already they have either entirely disappeared or become 
largely affected by the intermingling of other elements Hence the impor- 
tance of immediate and thorough study. Soon it will be too late. A cen- 
tury hence, the advantages of to-day may appear relatively as great as do 
those of Pizarro's or Cortez's day to us. 

It was in view of these conditions and these present opportunities that the 
Archaeological Institute of America felt called upon to take hold of the work 
and do something while it was yet possible. Foreign scholars had already 
entered the field and were making valuable contributions to American archae- 
ology. It was felt that the honor of America was at stake, and that shame 
would deservedly attach to us were not some organized effort set on foot for 
systematic investigation on our own continent. 

But while archaeological investigation at home was held to be of prime im- 
portance, the founders of the Institute were not blind to the possibilities of suc- 
cessful investigations in other quarters, particularly Greece and Asia Minor. 
In the decade which was just closing at the time the Institute was founded, 
two of the most important archaeological enterprises of the century had been un- 
dertaken on Greek soil. The first of these was the excavation of ancient Troy 
or Ilios, begun by Schliemann at Hissarlik in 1870, and revealing the remains 
of seven cities built one over the other. The second of these Schliemann 
identified with the old Homeric Troy, and found there objects of the most 
varied description throwing great light upon pre-historic Greek art and civili- 
zation. The seat of the second undertaking was Olympia in Elis. The exca- 
vations begun here in 1875 by the German government under the direction of 
Ernst Curtius involved the expenditure of 800,000 marks and yielded rich re- 
sults. The extensive archaeological remains which were here unearthed fell to 
the share of the Greek government; yet the gain to art, science and history 
was a public one, and Germany was justly proud of her share in the under- 
taking. 

Just as these enterprises were terminating, excavations were beginning at 
Pergamos, in Asia Minor, in the year 1878, — excavations destined to fill a wide 
gap in the history of Greek art and to enrich the Berlin Museum with sculpt- 
ures of rare interest and beauty. 



WORK AND AIMS. 



17 



Under such circumstances as these, American scholars might well feel their 
enthusiasm kindle with a desire to join in the work of discovery, to secure for 
their own country, if possible, some of the treasures which were being un- 
earthed in all quarters, and to obtain for the American public some of the inspi- 
ration and enlightenment which the promotion of such enterprises was sure 
to bring. 

It was with these two objects prominently in mind — the investigation of 
archaeological problems at home and abroad — that the Archaeological Institute 
eleven years ago entered upon its existence. It is to a consideration of the 
success with which our young organization has prosecuted its investigations in 
the two fields already mentioned, that I desire to call your attention briefly this 
evening. 

Let us look first at the work done in America. The attention here has been 
devoted chiefly to a study of the customs and institutions of the Indians of the 
Southwestern United States, and incidentally to some of the more notable archi- 
tectural remains of Mexico. 

The Institute was fortunate at the outset in securing the services of Mr. A. F. 
Bandelier, an investigator equipped with all the resources of archaeological, 
linguistic and historical knowledge necessary for the undertaking, as well as 
great enthusiasm for antiquarian and ethnological research. Mr. Bandelier 
took up his residence at Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the agent of the Institute, 
in 1880, and spent five years in that Territory, studying the Indian tribes of 
the Southwest, — excepting a part of 1881, which was spent in a tour through 
Mexico. 

Mr. Bandelier's studies have been characterized by valuable results in every 
direction. Already four separate works from his hand have been published by 
the Institute, giving the details and conclusions of his observations, viz. : 

Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of JVew 
Mexico. 

Re fort upon the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos ( an old pueblo near Santa Fe ). 
These two appeared together in one volume in 1881. 

In 1884 appeared his Report of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico, made 
three years before ; and at the opening of the present year appeared the first 
instalment of the Final Report of Investigations among the Indians of the 
Southwestern United States. 

During his Mexican tour in 1881 Mr. Bandelier examined more carefully 
and thoroughly than had ever been done before the famous structure at Cho- 
lula, near the City of Mexico, long known as the Pyramid of Cholula. To the 
inexperienced eye this appears to be a natural hill some two hundred feet in 
height. Mr. Bandelier rejects the designation of pyramid for this eminence. 
It is not a pyramid, but a mound built in successive terraces. Careful exam- 
ination reveals the fact that it was built throughout of bricks laid in clay, 
though largely covered with debris and overgrown with trees and shrubbery. 
Mr. Bandelier also made a multitude of accurate measurements of the mound, 



l8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE {WISCONSIN). 



and, comparing these with descriptions of the early Spanish explorers made 
three hundred years before, found it had remained substantially unchanged 
since the days of the conquerors. Further study led to the conclusion that this 
mound had once been a huge fortified structure, much larger than at present, 
built of adobe bricks, and that it had been the residence of a large popula- 
tion; in other words, that we have an artificially elevated pueblo, with a mound 
in the centre consecrated to purposes of worship. 

These studies at the Mound of Cholula were continued by others, carried on 
at the deserted city of Mitla. Impressive ruins of massive construction and 
great extent are here found. The chief interest attaches to the wonderful mo- 
saic decoration of the facades of these structures. This consists entirely of 
geometrical figures done in straight lines, no two sections of the facade follow- 
ing the same pattern. Side by side we find three or four different designs, and 
on another side of the building as many more, yet so similar in general char- 
acter and so ingenious in the invention displayed that the whole effect is ex- 
ceedingly harmonious. Exact measurements were secured of the various 
buildings here preserved, and the interesting fact discovered that they were all 
erected by rule of thumb, without plummet or level: no wall standing exactly 
perpendicular, and none of the angles being exact right angles. 

Other valuable discoveries characterized Mr. Bandelier's industrious re- 
searches in Mexico, the whole filling a handsome octavo volume of over three 
hundred pages, illustrated with views and plans largely from sketches by the 
author himself. The value of this work and the credit it reflects upon the In- 
stitute may be judged by the circumstance that, though appearing but six years 
ago (18S4), the first edition has long been exhausted. 

Returning from Mexico, Mr. Bandelier applied himself with renewed vigor 
to his earlier studies of Indian life and institutions in New Mexico. Part I. 
of the full report of these investigations has just appeared. It is an elaborate 
study of the Indian tribes of the Southwestern part of our country, embody- 
ing the results of the patient observations of four years. Mr. Bandelier per- 
sonally visited most of the Indian villages in New Mexico, and many outside 
of the Territory, often making a protracted stay and undergoing great priva- 
tions, diligently studying their institutions and social and religious customs, 
and especially the affinities of the different tribes to each other. This work 
is the more to be welcomed as such studies, if carried on at all, cannot be de- 
layed much longer. A few years will probably witness the total disappearance 
of many tribes which may now be studied. The railroad and the speculator 
have already begun their sure work, and what is done by the archaeologist 
must be done soon or never. 

Turning now to the Old World, we shall find that the results there secured 
have been, if anything, even more creditable to our enterprise and scholarship 
than those reached in America, brilliant and thorough as these latter have un- 
doubtedly been. 

The first enterprise undertaken in the new field was at Assos, in Asia Minor, 



WORK AND AIMS. 



I 9 



just south of Troy, on the western coast. Fifty years before Colonel Leake, 
the indefatigable English explorer, had visited the site of Assos and expressed 
the conviction that the remains here buried would, if brought to light, present 
the most perfect idea of a Greek city any where to be obtained. 

Excavations were begun by Joseph Thacher Clarke and others in the summer 
of 1881, and carried on for nearly two years. The opinion expressed by Leake 
was soon shown to be well founded. Extensive remains of the old Greek city 
were brought to light, including the temple, the gymnasium, the stoa or por- 
tico, used as a promenade, the basilica or court of justice, the walls of the city, 
the street of tombs, the theatre and many other remains, including several 
Greek inscriptions of importance and a great quantity of pottery and other 
small objects. From the evidence thus obtained Mr. Clarke was enabled to 
reconstruct the temple of Assos and to determine the date of its erection with 
greater accuracy than had been done before. 

An account of the discoveries of the first year of the Assos Expedition (1SS1) 
appears in the Preliminary Report prepared by Mr. Clarke and published in 
the papers of the Institute in 1882. The Full Report of the whole expedition 
and the excavations of both years is now in preparation. Of this report, Dr. 
Peters, the head of the expedition to Babylonia undertaken by the Philadelphia 
Society of the Institute, wrote recently as follows: 

" I visited Mr. Clarke at Harrow in order to see his work, and came away 
enthusiastic over it. He is working diligently, but he has undertaken to make 
his work a complete one and the labor is enormous. I went over his plans 
and notes, and the thoroughness, accuracy and many-sidedness of his work 
surpass anything I have ever seen. I am glad he has delayed so long, be- 
cause by this delay we shall secure a monumental work." 

We Americans certainly should feel proud of such praise accorded us in a 
field where scholarly investigation redounds so much to our credit. 

The portable antiques discovered at Assos were divided between the Turk- 
ish Government and the representatives of the Institute, Turkey receiving 
two-thirds, and the Institute the remaining third. The objects thus secured for 
America passed into the possession of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where 
thev are now preserved. The same institution also made an earnest endeavor 
to obtain by purchase all or a part of the antiquities falling to the share of 
Turkey, but without avail. The Turkish authorities absolutely refused to 
enter into any negotiations for a sale. Even that country in these recent years 
has become sensible of the honor of securing possession of archaeological 
treasures. 

While the Assos excavations were in progress, another line of work was in- 
itiated by the Institute, and one destined to reflect lasting credit upon its man- 
agement. This was the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The 
French and German governments had long had, both at Rome and at Athens, 
flourishing schools of classical studies, whose regular publications were every- 
where recognized as an ornament to their scholarship. The design was to 



20 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE [WISCONSIN). 



establish something of the same sort under American auspices, and an unpre- 
tending beginning was made in the fall of 1882. 

Prof. Goodwin of Harvard, one of the leading promoters of the new enter- 
prise, went out as the first annual director. In the absence of any permanent 
endowment or of any sufficient funds in the treasury of the Institute, the 
School was at first supported by the contributions of nine leading American 
colleges, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Amherst, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Prince- 
ton, Wesleyan and the College of the City of New York. Each of these guar- 
anteed $250 annually, most of them for a period of ten years from the opening 
of the School. In addition to this, the Corporation of Harvard College gener- 
ously granted Prof. Goodwin leave of absence for one year on nearly full 
salary. 

A house was rented in Athens for the School, the beginning of a library 
was made, and work began the first year with seven enthusiastic students. 
Instruction was not contemplated in the plan of the founders. Each student 
was required to pursue some special line of investigation, under the guidance 
of the director, in classical archaeology, history or literature, and to present the 
results in a thesis. Regular meetings were also held at which papers were 
read and discussed. 

The first year showed clearly the advantages likely to accrue to our scholar- 
ship from the existence of such a School and assured its permanent success. 
It has now been in operation nearly eight full years. Until recently there has 
been no permanent director. The contributing colleges have in turn sent out 
representatives from their respective faculties to take charge of the School for 
one year. Latterly, vigorous efforts have been made to raise an endowment 
of $100,000, with which to secure the services of a permanent director. More 
than half of this sum has been already guaranteed. It is of the utmost im- 
portance that a trained archaeologist should be in permanent charge of the 
School, and the Institute has been fortunate in having engaged Dr. Charles 
Waldstein to assume this responsible position as soon as the entire sum is raised. 
Of his eminent fitness for the office it is unnecessary to speak to those ac- 
quainted with the brilliant work already accomplished by this young American 
scholar. 

For the present Dr. Waldstein, with the title of Director, devotes several 
months in each year to the conduct of the School, remaining in Athens from 
the first of January to the first of April. Annual directors from the separate 
colleges are still sent out and co-operate with Dr. Waldstein, assuming exclu- 
sive control in his absence. 

In the fall of 1888 a building for the School was completed, costing $30,000. 
It is beautifully situated on Mt. Lycabettus, on grounds generously given by 
the Greek Government, and commands extensive views in all directions. The 
money for this object was secured by private subscriptions. The building 
contains apartments for the director and a limited number of students, also a 
fine library and reading room, forty feet square, already well stocked with the 



WORK AND AIMS. 



21 



leading works of reference for classical study and constantly receiving new- 
accessions. 

The work accomplished by the School and under its auspices has been most 
gratifying. Four volumes of so-called Papers have appeared, two filled with 
monographs on various archaeological subjects, all giving the results of inde- 
pendent study, and constituting genuine contributions to the sum of knowledge. 
Samples of the subjects treated are, the Erechtheum, the Theatre of Dionysus, 
the Pnyx, the Topography of the Battle of Salamis. 

Of perhaps greater value than these are the two volumes of inscriptions 
edited by Dr. Sterrett in 18S8. Sterrett had been a pupil of the School in its 
first year, 1882-3. In 18S4 and 1885 he made two journeys through parts of 
Asia Minor. The former of these was conducted at his own expense; the lat- 
ter was made possible by the generosity of Miss Catharine Wolfe, of New 
York. Both trips resulted in notable contributions to epigraphy and geog- 
raphy. The former of Sterrett's two volumes contains three hundred and 
ninety-seven inscriptions, the latter six hundred and fifty-one, chiefly Greek, 
most of which are new and had never before been edited. 

More important even than these contributions to epigraphy were the topo- 
graphical observations made by Sterrett. Many classical sites were identified 
by him, which had entirely disappeared, among them the New Testament 
tow r n of Lystra. In fact so rich was the material of this sort gathered by 
Sterrett that it was submitted to Prof. Kiepert, of Berlin, who constructed 
four new maps of those parts of Asia Minor gone over by Sterrett. These are 
beautifully executed and accompany the volumes of inscriptions. 

Sterrett's work has attracted the favorable notice of classical scholars of all 
countries, and is to be regarded as the most signal achievement of the kind yet 
accomplished by any American. 

Soon afterwards a new undertaking was begun, under the auspices of the 
School, this time in Attica itself. German scholars had already identified the 
old Attic deme of Icaria, and the Americans began excavations here early in 
1888. Icaria was the cradle of that ancient worship of Bacchus or Dionysus, 
which subsequently developed into Attic tragedy. The modern Greek name 
of the locality, Dionyso, as pointing to the primitive worship of Dionysus, had 
in fact first suggested the probable identity of the place with the old Icaria. 
Excavations soon brought to light inscriptions confirming most fully the 
identity of the spot. Other inscriptions were found commemorating various 
victories in dramatic contests, comic as well as tragic, also a number of stat- 
ues and architectural fragments. 

These excavations at Icaria were followed by others conducted by the School 
at Thoricus in Attica and Sicyon in the Peloponnesus, yielding results of great 
value, if not of equal brilliancy. 

But above and beyond all the discoveries and contributions to knowledge 
proceeding from the activity of the School, there were larger and more vital 
results to be noted. The thirty and more students who had enjoyed the ad- 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE {WISCONSIN). 



vantages of the School and received the inspiration of actual contact with 
Greece and Athens, returned to America filled with a wholesome enthusiasm 
for the cause of classical studies. Most of them now hold positions as in- 
structors in the leading colleges and schools of the country, where they are 
making themselves felt as the vehicles of a higher and better culture. They 
are making their students feel, as they have been made to feel themselves, that 
a classical education does not end with the grammatical interpretation of a 
prescribed round of Greek and Latin authors, but that its province is broader, 
including the whole domain of Hellenic and Roman civilization, — their art, 
history and religion as well as literature. 

Not only the students of the School, but the professors too, who have gone 
out as its annual directors from the different colleges, have felt the tonic effect 
of life and study in Greece. They have come back with a clearer vision of the 
possibilities of Greek studies, and have been able to lead their students with a 
wiser and more stimulating guidance than before. So marked has this effect 
been that the American committee in charge of the School have repeatedly 
expressed their conviction of the wisdom of continuing to send out annual di- 
rectors from the contributing colleges, even after a permanent director of the 
School shall have been appointed. 

It is precisely these vivifying and fructifying effects for which those inter- 
ested in the School and its work .should be most grateful. It was to secure 
such results as these that it was founded; to subserve the practical end of a 
higher education of our people, rather than to enable individuals to win dis- 
tinguished reputation by purely scientific work. This last end has fortunately 
been attained too, but we have to congratulate ourselves that this is not all, 
and to remember that this alone can never be regarded as a realization of the 
School's purposes. 

A recent ally of the School is the American Journal of Archaeology. This 
periodical, founded some five years ago under the influence of the rising inter- 
est in archaeological studies, is conducted with eminent credit to American 
learning, and has lately been constituted the official organ of the American 
School, an arrangement by which the interests of both the Journal and the 
School cannot fail to be fostered and advanced. 

The present needs of the School are pressing. It needs more books for its 
library; it needs more furniture for its building; it needs some thirty thousand 
dollars to complete the one hundred thousand dollars endowment fund; be- 
sides this, it needs the establishment of some half-dozen scholarships yielding 
seven or eight hundred dollars a year, similar to those maintained by the 
French and German governments in connection with their schools at Rome 
and Athens. 

There are now nineteen associated colleges, seventeen of which contribute 
to the support of the School, yielding an income of $4,000 annually; but this 
is all required for current expenses, and much of what has been already done 
could never have been accomplished except by private munificence. Ster- 



WORK AND AIMS. 



23 



rett's first journey to Asia Minor was undertaken at his own expense, while 
the cost of the second was defrayed by Miss Wolfe ; the report of the Assos 
Expedition was printed at the expense of the Art Club and the Classical Club 
of Harvard University, and many of the excavations have been paid for not 
out of the treasury of the School or the Institute but from the proceeds of pri- 
vate generosity, sometimes on the part of the students themselves. 

A new need for financial support has recently presented itself, with the un- 
expected opportunity extended to us by the Greek Government. This is the 
privilege of excavating the site of the ancient Delphi, the seat of the famous 
oracle and temple of Apollo. The modern Greek village of Kastri occupies 
this site, as Dr. Butler has already described. In order to indemnify the in- 
habitants of the village for their holdings, it will be necessary for the Institute 
to pay the Greek Government the sum of $75,000. The limit originally set 
for securing this sum was December, 1889, but it has since been courteously 
extended to June 1st of the present year. 

It is earnestly to be hoped that this magnificent opportunity may not be al- 
lowed to slip out of our hands. Other nations are eager for the privilege, 
and it cannot be ours unless we secure it without delay. If accepted it is likely 
to prove as fruitful as the excavations carried on at Olympia by the Germans, 
and to furnish a mass of new and instructive material for the study and train- 
ing of future archaeologists. 

Such, then, in brief, is the work and such are the aims of the Archaeological 
Institute of America. In carrying out its purpose of elevating the tone of our 
culture by bringing home the instructive lessons of the past with fresh force, it 
has made valuable contributions to our knowledge of the antiquities of Old and 
New Mexico; it has brought to light the buried city of Assos, with its notable 
public buildings; it has organized a School of Classical Studies at Athens, 
whose life-giving influence in raising the standard of American scholarship 
has been felt throughout the length and breadth of our land; it has equipped 
this school with an admirable building, secured for it a large part of the con- 
templated endowment of $100,000, and the services of an archaeologist of 
world-wide reputation as director ; it has made important excavations at Icaria, 
Sicyon and Thoricus, gathered over a thousand valuable inscriptions in the 
Greek and Latin languages, and reconstructed large parts of the map of Asia 
Minor; it has called into existence and secured the hearty support of an Amer- 
ican journal of archaeology, and won for American scholarship a flattering 
recognition in the eyes of the most competent scholars of the Old World. 

It wishes now to press on to new achievements, to excavate Delphi and 
other sites, and do its share in the general progress of archaeological investiga- 
tion the world over. There has never been a time when the activity in this 
direction was so great, so wisely directed and so fruitful as at present. We are 
constantly hearing of new funds, new explorations and new excavations. 
Egypt, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Babylonia, Italy, and every nook and corner of 
Greece are simultaneously yielding up their treasures to the spade and the 



2 4 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE {WISCONSIN). 



shovel. It is surprising how little has jet been done in comparison with what 
remains to do. Even where investigation was thought to have been com- 
plete, the most surprising discoveries have recently been made. 

Until a few years since it was confidently believed that every part of the 
Acropolis had been thoroughly examined, and yet in the course of the last five 
years the most astounding developments have been witnessed on that very 
spot. New buildings have been discovered, statues, bronzes, terra-cottas, vases 
and inscriptions in such abundance that not only has the Old Museum at 
Athens been filled to overflowing, but a new one has been constructed to hold 
the vast number of objects brought to light. 

In many respects the situation to-day reminds one of the Renaissance. Then 
it was from the dust of the Italian libraries that manuscripts were everywhere 
emerging, revealing the works of ancient poets, historians and philosophers, 
whose names till then were scarcely known. To-day it is from the depths of 
the earth that we behold appearing the long-buried monuments of antiquity. 
Yet the voice with which they speak, though less articulate, is in its way 
equally instructive and equally inspiring. 

It is with these purposes and pointing to these results, which I have briefly 
sketched, that the Archaeological Institute of America appeals to the generous 
support of the American public. Long enough have we as a nation suffered 
the reproach of indifference to the refining influences of art and archaeological 
study. Long enough have American students at foreign universities been 
stung by the contemptuous allusion of professors to the American race after 
the dollar and our complete absorption in material things. To those who be- 
lieve in the humanizing influences of those lines of study and investigation 
which it is seeking to foster, the Archaeological Institute of America holds out 
a welcoming hand and asks for generous cooperation. 



BUSINESS MEETING. 



A recess being taken, members of the Society repaired to the 
State Historical Society's Library. 

The report of the Secretary and Treasurer, Reuben G. 
Thwaites, showed that the finances of the organization are in 
a healthy condition. 

Officers were elected for the ensuing year as follows: 

President — Prof. James D. Butler, LL. D., Madison. 

Vice-Presidents — Prof. Alexander^Ke'rr and Mrs. Sarah 
Fairchild Conover, of Madison; Prof. Theopore Lyman 
Wright, of Beloit ; Hon. James G. Jenkins, of Milwaukee. 

Secretary and Treasurer — Reuben G. Thwaites, Madison. 

Representative to the Council, 1890-91 — Hon. William H. 
Metcalf, Milwaukee. 

An adjournment was taken to Room 27, where members and 
their guests examined a large collection of fine photographs of 
Grecian antiquities, collected by Mrs. Wayne Ramsay upon 
her last European trip, and spent a half hour in conversation 
upon the work of the Institute. 

25 




1 



